NORRISTOWN — Incumbent candidate Matt Bradford (D-70th Dist.) spoke on a number of topics including property tax reform and issues involving the Corporate Net Income (CNI) tax while also reflecting on his previous accomplishments and plans to continue to serve his constituents when he spoke to Times Herald editor Stan Huskey for another installment of Politically Direct.

“(The 70th District) is a very diverse district, running all the way from Harleysville to Norristown, so the issues are diverse but there are a couple of key ones that come up at almost every door you’re at,” Bradford explained.

According to Bradford, several of these issues are at least partially related and include property tax, environmental issues, especially relating to Marcellus Shale drilling, and school funding.

“I think with Gov. Corbett having come into office with really a different agenda in terms of how he deals with public education, the cuts towards public education, increasing class sizes, putting more pressure on the local property tax,” said Bradford. “We need good schools and we need to make sure that we are not putting the cost disproportionately or overburdening the local property tax.”

Advertisement

In order to alleviate the burden of increasing property tax costs, Bradford believes that changes are necessary. However, the controversial HB 1776, which would replace property tax with increases in both sales tax and income tax, would not generate enough revenue bridge the gap, according to Bradford.

“1776 doesn’t come up with enough revenue to do total property tax elimination and I think we need to do total property tax elimination. I think what we need to do, though, is target it for primary residential properties,” Bradford explained. “If we are going to raise the income and sales tax on individuals, then the relief has to be for individuals.”

Bradford went on to explain that a bill similar to what he described would require an amendment to the state constitution and has already been approved by the House and is currently in discussion by the Senate.

The state’s CNI tax rate was also discussed and led to a larger discussion on necessary reform to close loopholes that provide some corporations tax-related benefits while punishing others as a result. Specifically, Bradford mentioned the “Delaware Loophole,” which allows corporations to avoid paying income tax in Pennsylvania by having at least a small portion of the business in Delaware. As a result, smaller businesses suffer due to the costs of maintaining multiple properties. Removing this and other loopholes would dramatically lower the tax rate, Bradford asserted.

“The broader the base, the lower the rates. What we’ve done because of an inequity that is so big you could drive a truck through, we then wind up with a CNI nearly, 10 percent, that is way too high,” said Bradford. “Again, it’s an idea that Democrats and Republicans share. It’s just one of these things that if you’re one of these businesses that are able to take advantage of the Delaware Loophole, why would you want to ever close it because, frankly, it’s in their best interest. The status quo works to their advantage.”

Finally, Bradford reflected on his accomplishments over his first two terms, especially those relating to improvements made to schooling and public education.

“Working with Gov. Rendell in my first term, we saw historic increases in education funding. We started to close the inequities between the wealthiest school districts and the poorest,” Bradford said. “We saw tremendous increases in student performance. We proved that things like Pre-K, full-day kindergarten, things like that work.”

Bradford also touched on his plans to continue to improve the 70th District by helping to grow the economy through job creation and credits for the businesses willing to create those jobs.

“Let’s not kid ourselves. All of our problems are largely solved by a thriving, good economy and I believe that and I think that is a bipartisan agreement,” Bradford said. “In times like this, we need to think outside the box and we do need to give relief to employers who are willing to hire new people in Pennsylvania.”